After an emotional opening ceremony to celebrate winning the Stanley Cup, the Chicago Blackhawks and Washington Capitals squared off at the United Center.

The game started strong and ended strong. Both teams were incredibly aggressive, and some may argue that Washington was much more physical then the Hawks. However, the Hawks caught the breaks that they needed and great shots ended up beating Braden Holtby and getting a freebie on an open net penalty.

The biggest surprise of the game came early when Brandon Bollig scored the first goal of the season for the Hawks. As I tweeted during the game, the best part about hockey is the unpredictability. How great was it when you realized that the grizzly bear scored the very first goal of the 2013-2014 season?

Ok! Bollig gets the first goal of the season. Proves hockey is completely unpredictable #Blackhawks up 1-0

On the Captials end, Michael Grobovski was all over the ice for Washington. He tallied 3 goals and an assist causing Hawks fans to sweat throughout the game. Alexander Ovechkin and him displayed incredible poise on the powerplay as the Capitals moved the puck around with finesse and calmness.

Blackhawks can learn from that powerplay. How cool and composed was that? Beautiful play by Washington

On the Hawks side, Hossa, Oduya, Seabrook, Crawford, and Kane played very well. Actually, after listing all those names, the entire team played well. Kane, Hossa, Oduya, Seabrook, Bollig, and Saad all put biscuits in the oven to cook up a great win for Chicago.

Look for the high-intensity play to continue for both teams as the Blackhawks host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, and Washington hosts their home-opener against Calgary next Thursday.

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–> On a side note, did anyone think the music for the banner raising was fit for a funeral? It felt so depressing to me.